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Is WGS84 a Mercator?

by Chase Collins

Is WGS84 a Mercator?

Web Mercator, Google Web Mercator, Spherical Mercator, WGS 84 Web Mercator or WGS 84/Pseudo-Mercator is a variant of the Mercator projection and is the de facto standard for Web mapping applications. It rose to prominence when Google Maps adopted it in 2005.

How do I convert local coordinates to WGS84?

1 Answer

  1. convert the known lat/lon coordinate to a cartesian coord (easting,northing).
  2. determine the x and y differences between (1) and the local coordinate of that point.
  3. apply this coord difference to to each of the 3 corners local coordinate.
  4. convert (3) back to geographical lat/lon.

What is a WGS84 Web Mercator coordinate system?

Web Mercator Coordinate System It is the de facto standard for web maps and online services. With this coordinate system, the geodetic coordinates defined on the WGS 84 datum are projected as if they were defined on a sphere, using a sphere-based version of the Mercator projection.

Why does Google use Mercator?

A Google employee explained in 2009 that the company used a Mercator map because it helped preserve angles of roads: “The first launch of Maps actually did not use Mercator, and streets in high latitude places like Stockholm did not meet at right angles on the map the way they do in reality.”

What is the difference between normal Mercator and Transverse Mercator?

The Mercator uses an upright cylinder for its map projection. The Transverse Mercator takes a cylinder and places it on its side (rotates it 90°), as pictured below – which is how the term “transverse” is derived. However, the Universal Transverse Mercator places this cylinder 60 times for each UTM zone.

Does Google Earth use WGS84?

Google Earth (also Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth) use a Mercator projection based on a spherical datum (in ESRI parlance, datum = “Geographic Coordinate System; GCS”) that is a modification of the WGS84 datum.

Does Google Earth use Mercator?

Up until now, Google Maps has used Mercator projection, which projects the planet onto a flat surface. While this style makes it easy to print onto maps and has largely become standardized, it presents a distorted image of the Earth.